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David Gorski

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski. That Orac has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 30 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: oracknows@gmail.com

Posts by this author

May 31, 2006
Our Seed overlords demand a response: Since they're funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on), should scientists have to justify their research agendas to the public, rather than just grant-making bodies? Ooh, boy. That's a loaded question that depends a lot on how you interpret…
May 30, 2006
Watch how a Holocaust denier (in this case, the President of Iran) dances around the question "Did the Holocaust happen?" You can see the very same techniques when a denier like David Irving or Ernst Zundel is questioned about the Holocaust: SPIEGEL: It concerned your remarks about the Holocaust.…
May 30, 2006
Grand Rounds, vol. 2, no. 36 has been posted at Kidney Notes. Go forth and check out the best medical blogging from the last week. Geez, I was so busy last week on call that I forgot to submit an entry. While we're at it, here's a belated plug for a special Memorial Day edition of RINO Sightings.
May 30, 2006
Finally. My week on call, including the entire holiday weekend, is over. It started out pretty bad and didn't get all that much better. I suppose I should be grateful that at least I was getting sleep again by this weekend. In any case, I thought that one particular day was almost worth of a 24-…
May 29, 2006
In the U.S., today is Memorial Day. Although we often forget about it in our rush to head out to the beach or relax over the course of a three day weekend, it is the day set aside to remember those who have died fighting for our nation in its wars. I was debating about what to post today, when I…
May 29, 2006
I'm a pretty big computer geek most of the time, and I do love gadgets. However, even I can sympathize with the consumers in this story: OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number…
May 28, 2006
OK, PZ, Grrlscientist, and John have all done it. They've used a cool little applet to show their blogs as graphs. I figured I'd give it a try, too. Why not? (Click on the image to see the graph construct itself.) Basically, the applet shows the tree structure of a web page in a rather…
May 28, 2006
Worried about ghosts bothering you? What about demons possessing you? Or aliens abducting you for all sorts of strange experiments, complete with anal probes? Well, fear no more! I've discovered just the thing. You need a Paranormal Restraining Order! Feel like sinning and don't want to be subject…
May 28, 2006
It's the middle of a long holiday weekend (well, here in the U.S., anyway). What better time to do a silly Internet quiz to pass the time while waiting to round? (Yes, I'm working all weekend.) What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die? You will be smothered under a rug. You're a little…
May 27, 2006
Hilarious. It incorporates what we know now from the prequels into what might have happened when Darth Vader had to tell the Emperor what happened at the end of the first Star Wars movie:
May 26, 2006
It's the Memorial Day weekend, and many of you will be taking off for various recreational activities over the three day weekend. Sadly, I'll be on call and thus working the entire weekend, having drawn the short straw for this particular holiday. However, to console myself with the fact that it…
May 26, 2006
This is just too rich. As you know a few months ago, I commented about a British report that found high levels of mercury and other heavy metals in Chinese herbal medicines sold in the U.K. Some contained as much as 11% mercury by weight! It turns out that a JAMA paper from 2004 did the same thing…
May 25, 2006
I've commented before on some of Pat Robertson's loonier statements. Given the sheer fundie religious nuttery that he regularly spouts, it takes something related to my regular blogging interests for him to catch my attention. I know it's amazing, but somehow he managed to do just that. First, a…
May 25, 2006
You know, sometimes medicine sucks, particularly oncology. Oh, it's not so bad for surgeons, particularly breast surgeons, because we can cure many of the patients we operate on. But for solid tumor oncologists, who deal with diseases that current medicine can't cure but only palliate day in and…
May 25, 2006
It's been an interesting week for this week's host of the Skeptics' Circle, Skeptico. He had a creationist appropriate his name, create a Blogspot blog, and actually post comments on other people's blogs under the name "Skeptico." Not good. Fortunately, no one was fooled, and it was the False…
May 24, 2006
Here's a scary error, reported by Abel Pharmboy: David Douglas of Reuters Health reported last Friday on the publication of a clinical trial revealing that a one-week trial of Benadryl (diphenhydramine HCl) was superior to Clarinex (desloratadine) in managing symptoms of moderate-to-severe allergic…
May 24, 2006
One annoying thing about the blogosphere for someone like me is that a lot of things that I want to write about pop up during the day, when I'm at work. Blogging is all about immediacy and time. Wait too long to write about a topic, and the moment's passed. For me, by the time I get home in the…
May 23, 2006
It seems a reasonable question to ask, given my propensity for it. Unfortunately that's not what our Seed overlords asked this week. This week, they ask: If you could shake the public and make them understand one scientific idea, what would it be? Predictably, some ScienceBloggers answered:…
May 23, 2006
Wow, I wish I had the balls to make this retort to prisoners that used to be brought to the E.R. when I was still a resident. I just hope he had a security guard like the one we used to have at our county hospital when I was a resident. This guy was close to 7 feet tall and built like a tank.…
May 23, 2006
Here's the reason why: An atrocity is unleashed today. The Chairman is rolling over in his grave. Hell, he's probably doing backflips. I'm guessing that they're lowering the flags to half mast in Hoboken as we speak.
May 23, 2006
Grant crunch time again yesterday. That means it's the perfect time once again to dig up something from the archives of old blog and repost it here. This particular piece originally appeared on January 12, 2005, just shy of one month after I started blogging. I'm guessing once again that, because…
May 22, 2006
Yikes. Grant crunch time or no grant crunch time, I couldn't let this pass. This week's host of the Skeptics' Circle, Skeptico, has been one of my favorite skeptical bloggers for a long time now. As a measure of how good he is, he now has a doppleganger blog. Damn, I'm a bit envious. No one's seen…
May 22, 2006
Geez, who could have seen this one coming? Straight from the Discovery Institute's blog regarding atheist and Holocaust denier Larry Darby in reference to his activities against ID in Alabama, Casey Luskin bloviates: An outspoken opponent of the bill has been activist Larry Darby. Mr. Darby's…
May 21, 2006
First bad science fiction leads to a cult (Scientology), and now bad epic fantasy follows suit. Back when I was high school and college, like many that age, I was very fond of epic fantasy. But even I didn't like the Gor novels. How anyone could emulate them so seriously is beyond me.
May 21, 2006
It's Sunday. Time for silly Internet tests: Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and…
May 20, 2006
The 35th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is fast approaching. It will be published this Thursday, and the deadline is Wednesday evening. The host this time is skeptical blogging stalwart Skeptico, and his instructions regarding the deadline and how to submit can be found here. Overall guidelines…
May 19, 2006
I've written a lot before about the current President of Iran and his anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, as well as the religious fanaticism of the regime he leads. Here's more evidence of where theocracy can lead: While the Iranian economy appears to be heading for recession, one sector may have…
May 19, 2006
Damn if PZ didn't beat me to this one: A federal panel concluded yesterday that there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against use of multivitamins and minerals -- the popular dietary supplements taken by more than half of American adults in the hope of preventing heart disease, cancer…
May 19, 2006
Uh-oh. Periodically, via Sitemeter, I like to check out what sorts of searches are leading people to my humble blog. Recently I noticed one coming here from Italy via a Google search for "giant enema." Number two on the search list was this post. I'm guessing my Seed overlords are probably relieved…
May 19, 2006
It looks like Orac has acquired a new fan. You see, yesterday I wrote a rather long fisking of Vox Day. (Don't worry, I'm not going to continue it yet again; this dead horse has clearly been beaten enough). In it, I happened to make a brief mention of and link to an apparent admirer of Vox's who…